CHAPTER 50

EFFECT OF CLAY CONTENT ON STRENGTH OF SOILS

Parker D. Trask and James E. H. Close
Institute of Engineering Research
University of California
Berkeley, California
(Supported by a contract with Offi ce of Ordnance Research
Ordnance Corps, U. S. Dept. of Army)
ABSTRACT
Engineers have worked greatly on measuring the strength of
soils but relatively little on the fundamental geologic causes of
strength. Strength depends principally upon the content of (1)
water, (2) clastic materials and (3) plastic materials. Soils are
primarily of two types (1) cohesionless soils in which the strength
is produced mainly by the friction of clastic particles against one
another, and (2) cohesive soils in which the strength, among other
things, is influenced by forces between clay particles. The pre-
sent investigation is a study of the effect of clay content upon the
strength of cohesive soils. The strength was measured by a
shear vane device working upon synthetic mixtures of clays of
known composition. In each mixture strength varies inversely with
water content in a straight line relationship when strength is plotted
logarithmically and water arithmetically. Mixtures of glycerine
with vol-clay (a montmorillonite) give a curvilinear relationship.
For given water content the strength increases with respect to type
of clay from kaolin through illite, ball clay to montmorillonite.
Strength also increases progressively with increasing clay-sand
ratio for all types of clay. In clay-sand mixtures of given clay
composition strength increases with increasing fineness of grain of
the sand mixed with clay. The liquid limit likewise increases regu-
larly with increasing clay concentration and varies with clay type
fci the same way as does strength. Strength varies inversely with
temperature to a slight extent, changingjess than one percent per
degree Centrigrade. Hydrogen kaolin clay, for given water content
is several times stronger than sodium clay.
827
COASTAL ENGINEERING
INTRODUCTION
The Office of Ordnance Research of the Department of the Army,
through a contract with the Institute of Engineering Research of the
University of California at Berkeley, has been supporting an investi-
gation of the fundamental geologic causes of strength in soils .. En-
gineers are primarily interested in determining quantitatively the
strength of soils, rather than the basic factors that impart strength.
The purpose of this investigation is to study the effects of some of the
basic factors influencing strength of soils . Strength is caused princi-
pally by three factors (1) water, (2) clastic particles, and (3) plastic
particles . Soils and sediments are of two types with respect to
strength: (1) cohesionless soils, composed mainly of clastic particles
and (2) cohesive soils, which contain substantial quantities of plastic
particles and varying quantities of clastic particles . In the cohesive
soils composed of clastic particles, that is, broken or transported
particles of sand or silt size, the strength is caused primarily by the
friction of the particles against one another and water is of relatively
little effect. In the cohesive soils the strength is influenced by forces
of attraction between particles of clay size. It is convenient to think
of such particles as plastic particles because they impart plasticity
and cohesiveness to soils . If clastic particles are present in cohe-
sive soils they modify the strength. As the causes of strength in
cohesive soils are less well understood than the causes of strength
ii cohesionless soils, the present investigation has been devoted
primarily to the causes of strength in cohesive soils, and in particu-
lar to the effect of clay content upon strength. The variables that
have been studied are (1) clay type, (2) clay-sand proportion, (3)
grain-size of the clastic particles mixed with the clay, (4) base ex-
change effects, (5) temperature, (6) thixotropic effects, and (7)
glycerine content in glycerine-clay mixtures . Numerous other
variables affect the strength of soils but these are not considered in
the present investigation.
METHODS OF ATTACK
MATERIALS STUDIED
The method of approach has been to use clays of essentially
pure composition and sands of differing grain-size. The clays that
have been used are. (1) Edgar China clay from Georgia, which is
nearly pure kaolin about midway in composition between a hydrogen
sodium clay (Fig. ID", (2) Illinois grundite, which consists of about
80 percent illite and 20 percent of clastic material, which X-ray anc
Differential Thermal Analysis curves indicate to be mainly quartz;
828
EFFECT OF CLAY CONTENT ON STRENGTH OF SOILS
(3) Kentucky Old Mine No. 4 Ball clay, a mixture of about 85 percent
kaolin and 15 percent silica with an unknown content of organic mat-
ter, called Ball clay No. 1 in this report, (4) Kentucky Mine Special,
a ball clay estimated to contain 80 percent kaolin and the remainder
quartz, called Ball clay No. 2, (5) Wyoming bentonite, a clay esti-
mated to be 97 percent montmorillonite and 3 percent quartz; and
(6) Vol clay, a nearly pure bentonite. The median diameter of the
clays range mainly between 1 and 2 microns, though precise figures
for lllite and montmorillonite are not available.
Each of the six types was first tested in the pure condition
without the addition of sand. Subsequently, varying amounts of sand
were mixed with the clay. Ten grades of sand were used. The me-
dian (average) grain diameters of these sands are 1680, 945, 725,
350, 180, 136, 80, 55, 16 and 1.2 microns, respectively. Sedi-
mentary parameters of these sands are given in Table 1. The 16
micron sand is known in the trade as Silica No. 2 sand and the 1.2
micron as DMAF sand. These two sands are made commercially
by crushing in a ball mill. They have coefficients of sorting rang-
ing between 1.8 and 2.0. The other eight samples are California
beach sands, or mixtures of beach sands, whose sorting coeffi-
cients range principally between 1.1 and 1.4. Though mixtures of
all these sands with the various types of clay were studied, ex-
periments on clay-sand properties generally were made with 16 micron
sand. Four concentrations were used, namely, 20, 50, 80 and 100
percent clay, The corresponding sand contents of these mixtures
are 80, 50, and 20 and 0 percent sand. For montmorillonite, which
is highly plastic even in small proportions, mixtures of 90 percent
sand and 10 percent montmorillonite were studied. The other clays
do not have sufficient plasticity to make cohesive soils when only
10 percent clay is present. These clays, when mixed in a propor-
tion of 10 percent clay and 90 percent sand exhibit dilatancy, or in-
creasing shear-resistance with increasing stress, and give anoma-
lous results.
The sands cannot be studied in the pure state, because they are
too dilatant. The only investigations of pure sand were on artificial
mixtures of 135 micron sand with slightly larger and smaller sized
sands to give different coefficients of sorting (Fig. 2). The strength
of such samples was measured in a conventional direct shear box
under a normal load of 6 pounds per square inch.
829
COASTAL ENGINEERING
I
Stepped r-set screw
Pulley Wheel -A r~ bearing
r/'C
/-VOI
Vasummt , /
bearing
Vone
VANE SHEAR TEST APPARATUS
Fig. 1
135 ft sand
- r i
10 s
10 0
o
o
0
9 5
1 i ... . 1 ,
SORTING COEFFICIENT, VQS/Q,
Fig* 2 . Effect of sorting on shear
strength of sand.
SHEAR STRENGTH, Pounds/Inch*
0 20, 0.30 040 050 0 TO 100 I 30
****,
"* -;+-" ;*"x-
I , , I I I ,l,l,i
50 TO 100 200 300 900 700 1000
SHEAR WEIGHT, in Grams
SHEAR STRENGTH, in Pounds/Inch
2
0 20 0 30 0 400 50 0 70 1 00 1 50 2 0
200 300 400 500 700 1000
SHEAR WEIGHT, in Grams
Fig. 3. Relation of clay type and Fig. 4. Relation of Bentonite coi
clay concentration to shear centration to shear strei
strength and water content. and water content.
830
EFFECT OF CLAY CONTENT ON STRENGTH OF SOILS
TABLE I
SEDIMENT PARAMETERS OF SAND USED IN STRENGTH STUDIES
M Q
x
Q
3
Dio D90 So Log SK
1.15 0 . .6 0 2.18 1.91 -.0 0 2
16 .2 7 , .2 33.8 -- -- 2.17 -.0 0 8
55 4 1. .5
1
? 7 3 -- 10 0 1.33? .0 0 1?
80 52 110 37 135 1.4 5 -.0 4 8
136 8 17 5 4 2 224 1.4 2 -.0 4 3
180 16 8 190 150 20 0 1.0 6 -.0 0 3
350 295 4 25 250 50 0 1.20 .0 0 5
7 25 555 890 36 5 10 0 0 1.27 -.0 16
94 5 7 0 0 1150 50 5 1310 1.28 -.0 23
16 80 14 6 0 187 0 10 50 2220 1.13 -.0 0 7
M - Median diameter
Ql > Q3
_
First and third quartiles
10, D90 - Ten and ninety percentiles
Socoefficient of sorting = VQ3/Q1
LagSK - logarithm of skewness to base 10 = log^Ql -O^/M^
METHODS OF MEASURING STRENGTH
The strength of the other samples was measured in a mortar
bowl about 8 inches in diameter with a shear vane and pulley apparatus
shown in Fig. 1. Water is poured in the container at the end of the
pulley system until the weight of the water causes the sediment to fail.
The results are reported in the illustrations in this paper both in terms
of grams of water added and the corresponding shear strength in pounds
per square inch computed according to the formula of Capper and Cassie
(1953, p. 112). This formula is
T = wr = C n (D
2
h + D
3
)
where T is the torque, w the weight of water to cause failure of the
sediment, r the radius of the pulley wheel, C the shear strength,
831
COASTAL ENGINEERING
D the diameter of the shear vane and h the height of the vane. In the
present investigation the measurements generally were made for quan-
tities of water ranging between 100 and 1000 grams. As the height and
diameter of the vane and pulley radius of the torque wheel are the same
in all tests, the weight in grams is directly proportional to the strengtr
in pounds per square inch. The factor for converting grams to pounds
per square inch is 1.37 x 10 . The height of the vane is 0 .764 inch,
the diameter 1.312 inch, and the radius of the pulley wheel 2.02 inches
The vane has 4 blades of equal size placed at right angles to one anothe
In each experiment clay or a clay-sand mixture is mixed with a
quantity of water close to the liquid limit of the soil, and the shear
strength is measured with torque vane. A sample for determination of
water content is taken immediately after the stren,gth is measured. If
the sample for water content is not removed immediately, water evapc
rates from the sediment, which causes anomalous results. After the
shear strength is measured, additional material is added to the sampL
and thoroughly mixed into it. The shear strength is again recorded
and the water content measured. More sediment is added until five or
six determinations have been made. The results are then plotted on
s emilogarithmic paper with shear strength plotted logarithmically and
the water content arithmetically. The experiments with given types
of clays consistently give smooth curves as shown by Figs . 3 and 4.
An effort was made to keep the sands saturated. The consistency of
the results suggests that the samples were saturated. In preparing
the samples, mixtures of desired proportions of clay and sand were
made before adding water. In interpreting the effect of water content
one should bear in mind that the water is measured according to the
practice of engineers, which is the ratio of the weight of the water to
the weight of the dried sediment expressed as percent. It is not the
percent of water in the sediment as normally used by geologists .
When the investigation was first started water was added in sue
cessive increments to the samples, but this procedure proved less
practicable than starting with dilute mixtures and increasing the con-
centration by adding sediment.
The sediments failed at fairly sharp end points . Measurements
were made of strain before failure. As a rule the sediments failed
before 5 grams had been added after first trace of noticeable movemi
Thus the error in measurement is less than 5 percent and for most d
terminations is less than 3 percent. Satisfactory duplicates were
readily obtained.
832
EFFECT OF CLAY CONTENT ON STRENGTH OF SOILS
LIQUID LIMIT DETERMINATIONS
A number of liquid limit determinations were made . As the liquid
limit is a rough measure of strength it was thought desirable to measure
the effects of (1) clay type,, (2) clay-sand ratio and (3) grain size upon
liquid limit (Figs . 9 and 10). The liquid limit was measured in the
customary Atterberg hemispherical brass cup in which a pat of soil is
molded into the hemisphere and a groove of given dimensions made in
the sediment. The liquid limit is the water content at which 25 blows are
required to cause the sediment on the two sides of the groove to flow to-
gether . Thus it is a rough measure of the strength of a sediment for
a given water content. Experiments were made with different water
contents for each of the given mixtures to determine the relationship
between water content and the number of blows to cause flowage of the
sample. Straight line relationships were found when blow count was
plotted logarithmically and water content arithmetically (Fig. 9).
BASE EXCHANGE AND OTHER MEASUREMENTS
The effect of base exchange was measured on kaolin clay. In two
experiments the clays were converted to hydrogen and to sodium clays
by repeated washings with hydrochloric acid and sodium hydroxide solu-
tions respectively until all the bases had been replaced by hydrogen and
by sodium. Clay-water mixtures were then made with the hydrogen
kaolin and with the sodium kaolin. The results are presented in Fig. 11.
The effect of temperature was also investigated by using water of
different temperature to test the strength. Inasmuch as the strength is
influenced by the water content, the strength had to be converted to the
strength at a given water content in order to make the temperature re-
sults comparable. This water content for purposes of computation has
been taken as 39 percent. The temperature measurements were made
only on 100 percent kaolin.
The sediments tended to increase in strength with time of standing,
that is, they showed a slight thixotropic effect. The strength of mixtures of
illite with different amounts of water were measured after different in-
tervals of time. As with the temperature studies, it was necessary to
correct the strength for water content so that the results could be pre-
sented on a comparable basis. A water content of 50 percent was used.
As the strength did not change greatly with time, errors due to thixotropic
effects are believed to be relatively small.
The Land Locomotion Laboratory of the Ordnance Corps at the
Detroit Arsenal has been experimenting with the strength of mixtures of
833
COASTAL ENGINEERING
glycerine and vol clay - a montmorillonite clay. Glycerine is used be-
cause it does not evaporate and gives a constant strength with respect tc
time, whereas water evaporates causing the strength to increase gradu'
ally with time. In order to make the results of the present investigation
useful to the people at the Land Locomotion Laboratory, the strength of
mixtures of vol clay with glycerine and with water has been determined
with the shear vane devices illustrated in Fig. 1. The results are pre-
sented in Fig. 12.
RESULTS
COHESIONLESS SOILS
The results of this investigation are presented in two parts (1)
cohesionless and (2) cohesive soils. Cohesionless soils tested with the
shear vane device gave anomalous results owing to the effect of di-
latancy, and after preliminary experimentation were not studied furthe
The effect of sorting upon shear strength was tested on a conventional
direct shear device under 6 pounds per square inch normal load. The
results as shown in Fig. 2 indicate that the shear strength increases
with increasing poorness of sorting. All tests were made with arti-
ficially mixed sands of 135 microns median diameter. The shear
strength increased regularly from 9 .2 pounds per square inch for
sediments having a coefficient of sorting of 1.2 to 10.6 pounds per
square inch for a coefficient of sorting of 1.7 . The data are not par-
ticularly consistent but they exhibit a general trend.
COHESIVE SOILS
Effect of clay type - The results of the studies of cohesive soils
are shown in Figs . 3 to 12. In Figs. 3 and 4 the shear strength is
plotted logarithmically and the water content arithmetically for mix-
tures of different clays with 16 micron sand. In these two figures the
shear strength varies inversely with the water content. Samples of
pure illite and kaolin have essentially the same shear strength, but
kaolin shows a steeper relationship between water and shear strength
than does illite. The two ball clays for given water content are
slightly stronger than kaolin and illite. Wyoming bentonite is very
much stronger. A sample of Wyoming bentonite with 500 percent wat
has essentially the same shear strength as a kaolin clay with 70 per-
cent water . The vol clay shown in Fig. 12 has
-
approximately the sarr
shear strength with respect to water as the Wyoming bentonite as is
indicated by Fig. 4. The differences in strength between kaolin,
illite and ball clays is not great, whereas the difference between thes
834
EFFECT OF CLAY CONTENT ON STRENGTH OF SOILS
clays and montmorillonite is large. Mixtures of 10 percent bentonite
and 90 percent sand have about the same strength as pure clays of other
types. Mixtures of 20 percent bentonite and sand are stronger than
any of the other pure clays . To avoid crowding on Fig. 3, mixtures of
50 and 80 percent clay with sand are not shown for illite and the two
ball clays. The strength data however were determined for these clays.
They are similar to the data shown for kaolin of comparable sand con-
tent.
Effect of clay sand concentration - When water content is plotted
arithmetically and shear strength logarithmically, an inverse straight-
line relationship results (Figs . 3 and 4). The slope of this straight-
line can be expressed mathematically:
M = 5W = S SW
6(lnS) SS
where M is the slope of the line and is a dimensionless constant, W is
water content in percent, and S is shear strength. When the clay con-
tent of a sand-clay mixture decreases the slope becomes progressively
less, in a more or less regular fashion. On plotting these slopes M,
against the corresponding clay content, C, a direct proportionality re-
sults, as illustrated by Table 2. The slope of this line,6M/6C is a
constant, and is characteristic of the clay type, at least in the water
content range investigated. Viewed practically, M is a measure of
the sensitivity of soil strength with respect to changes in water content
and 6M/6C constitutes a measure of the change of this sensitivity as
clay content is varied. The following table lists M and SM/SC values
for the clays investigated, in mixtures with 16 micron sand.
TABLE 2
RELATIONSHIP OF SLOPE OF WATER CONTENT -
SHEAR STRENGTH CURVES TO CLAY TYPES
Clay type M values at different clay contents SM
Percent clay ~6C~
100 80 59 20 10
Wyo Bentonite -167 -145 -80 -32 -14 -1.700
Edgar ASP
(kaolmite) -11.5 -9.5 -5.8 -2.9
_
-0.118
Ky.Ball #1 -14.5 - -8.9 -5.2 - -0.116
Ky. Ball #2 -11.2 - -7.5 -5.8 - -0.068
Grundite
(Illite)
-7.8 -7.4 -5.9 -4.0 -0.049
M = slope of water content-shear strength relationship.
6M = change in slope, M with respect to changing clay cone en-
5C tration C
835
COASTAL ENGINEERING
Effect of grain size - The relationship of grain size of sand in kaolin-
sand mixtures is shown in Figs. 5 and 6. In Fig. 5 mixtures of dif-
ferent sands in proportions of 20 percent sand to 80 percent clay are
shown. The sands range in median diameter from 1.2 to 350 microns .
It is clear that for given water content the strength increases pro-
gressively as the grain size decreases . Sands with diameters ranging
between 55 and 350 microns have relatively little effect upon strength
but the finer sands show distinctive differences in strength effects . Th
slope of the water content-shear strength relationship for each mixture
essentially constant. The shear strength of the 1.2 micron sand mixtur
is considerably greater than for the other sands.
Clay-sand mixtures of 20 percent kaolin and 80 percent sand for
these same sand sizes were also studied. The 1.2 micron size could
not be used owing to effects of dilatancy. Sands of 725, 945 and 1680
microns were also studied in this latter series of tests. The results ai
shown in Fig. 6. The relationship of shear strength to grain size for
water contents of 17, 18 and 19 percent is indicated in this figure. Dat
for the 16 micron size are extrapolated from the slope of the water con
tent-shear strength curve. In these tests, the lowest concentration of
water used with the 16 micron sample is 23 percent. The data show
that for grain sizes above 200 microns, the size has relatively little
effect on shear strength but as the size decreases to 16 microns the sh
strength increases progressively with increasing fineness of grain
The sands used in this series of experiments have coefficients oi
sorting ranging from 1.06 for the 180 micron sand to 2.17 for the 16
micron sand (Table 1). Most of the sands of sand size had coeffi-
cients of sorting under 1.4, whereas the sands (clastic particles) of
silt and clay size (16 and 1.2 microns) had coefficients of around 2.0,
and thus were less well sorted. Hence though Fig, 6 purports to
show the effect of median grain size on shear strength, it should be
realized that each sand, because of the variation in size of constituent
about the median as represented by the coefficient of sorting, con-
tains significant quantities of constituents finer than the median. Hen
these fine constituents may have a significant effect on strength. How
ever, since Figure 6 shows increasing strength with increasing finene
of median diameter it would follow that the content of constituents fine
than the median would increase more or less proportionally with in-
creasing fineness of median diameter. Thus the graphs suggest that
increasing content of fine particles increases strength.
This relationship is shown in another way by comparing Figs. E
and 6. Extrapolation of the strength data in Fig. 5 to a water content
17 to 19 percent underwater materially greater shear strength for th
water content in the 80 percent clay-20 percent sand mixture than in
percent clay-80 percent sand mixture shown in Fig. 6 . The content <
836
LEGAL ASPECTS IN COASTAL PROTECTION ENGINEERING
SHEAR STRENSTH, m PWm ds/W
W SHEAR WEIOHT, in Gram *
SHEAR STRENGTH l/WS/5 WATER CONTENT SHEAR STRENGTH VERSUS GRAIN SIZE
Fig. 5. Relation of median diameter of Fig. 6 . Relation of water con-
sand component to shear strength tent to shear strength
and water content. and median diameter
of sand component.
1 1
kootta - 16 p. tltlc
1 1 1 1 1
1"
^S^_
\
-
0
^^^
E
a^^^"^
-
30
^- ~ *
-
i i I i 1 1 1
Z J 30 0 so to TO 90 0 K
SHEAR STRENGTH, h iPoundi/lnch *
CLAY CONCENTRATION, in Ptrctnt
Fig. 7 . Relation of shear strength Fig. 8. Relation of water content to
to clay concentration and shear strength and clay con-
water content. centration.
837
COASTAL ENGINEERING
7 8 9 10
NUMBER OF BLOWS
ATTERBURG BLOW COUNT VS WATER CONTENT
Fig. 9. Relation of clay-
concentration to
Atterberg blow
count and water
content.
CLAY CONCENTRATION, in Percent
Fig. 10. Relation of clay type
centration and liquid
to clay
limit.
con
SHEAR STRENGTH, m Pound*/Inch"
0 20 0 30 010 0 30 0 60
1 r
kaoli n cloy
0 20 0 30 0 4 0 50 0 70
SHEAR STRENGTH, Pounds/Inch '
Fig. 11. Relation of exchange- Fig. 12. Effect of glycerine cor
able ion to shear on shear strength.
strength and water
content.
838
EFFECT OF CLAY CONTENT ON STRENGTH OF SOILS
of fine particles is much greater in an 80 percent clay mixture than in a
20 percent clay mixture, since the average diameter of the clay particles
is 1.2 microns compared with 16 microns or more in the sand fraction.
The effect of course cannot be due entirely to grain size because a mix-
ture of sand of 1.2 microns median diameter with bentonite in the pro-
portion of 90 percent 1.2 micron sand and 10 percent bentonite has a
shear strength of only 0.5 pound per square inch for a water content of
75 percent compared with a water content of 300 percent for 100 percent
bentonite with the same shear strength of 0.5 pound per square inch.
Thus as shown in Figs. 3 and 4, increasing content of clay increases
the shear strength even for mixtures of sand of clay size as represented
by the 1.2 micron sand. This greater strength for clay could be as-
cribed to the plastic nature of the clay compared with the clastic charac-
ter of the sand. The effect of water content upon strength is shown in a
different way in Figs. 7 and 8. Figure 7 shows relationships between
water content and clay-sand concentration for mixtures of kaolin and
16 micron sand for constant shear strength. The water content in-
creases in a regular manner as the clay concentration increases for
each of the three shear strengths shown. Fig. 8 indicates how shear
strength increases with increasing concentration of clay for three mix-
tures of constant water content in mixtures of 16 micron sand with
illite. It is perfectly obvious from Figs. 7 and 8 that shear strength
increases with concentration of clay in clay-sand mixtures.
Effect of clay content upon liquid limit The liquid limit is a rough
measure of the strength of clays. It represents the water content of
a clay at the consistency at which 25 blows in the Atterberg testing
device causes the clay to flow together in a groove of standard width.
The liquid limit is thus a measure of the lower boundary of the plastic
state of the soil. The plastic limit is a measure of the water content
of the upper limit of the plastic state of the soils, and represents the
water content at which thin threads of the clay begin to break when
folded. In the present investigation only the liquid limit was investi-
gated . The liquid limit of the several soils tested in the present in-
vestigation was determined by the standard means of measuring the
water content. In making the test one mixes the soil in varying water
concentrations and determines the blow count to cause closure of the
groove. These blow counts plot on a straight line as shown in Fig. 9
vhich gives data for mixtures of kaolin and 16 micron silica. The
iquid limit is taken where the 25 blow count ordinate intersects the
yater content-blow count curve. Fig. 9 shows that these water con-
ent-blow count curves plot as straight lines on semilogarithmic
>aper and that the water content for any given blow count increases
rogressively with increasing concentration of clay. The slopes of the
urve likewise progressively steepen with increasing concentration of
839
COASTAL ENGINEERING
of clay, just as the slope of the water content-shear strength curves in-
crease in the shear vane experiments illustrated in Figs . 3 and 4. As
the strength varies directly with the number of blows required to cause
flowage, this graph indicates increasing strength with increasing clay
concentration.
The effect of clay concentration on the liquid limit of the clay type
is shown in Fig. 10. Here the water content at 25 blows is plotted again;
the clay concentration for the different clays. The liquid limit increases
with increasing clay concentration in a regular manner, and the liquid
limits vary in the same manner with respect to clay type as do the water
content-shear strength relationships shown in Figs . 3 and 4.
The effect of grain size upon the liquid limit and blow count was
studied for one clay, the Wyoming bentonite. Mixtures of 20 percent
bentonite and 80 percent of 1.2 micron and 16 micron sand, respec-
tively, were made. The water content for given blow count was found
to be approximately two times greater in the 1.2 micron mixture than
in the 16 micron mixture. That is, decreasing the grain size of the
clastic particles from 16 to 1.2 microns in montmorillonite-Sand
mixtures increases the water content 100 percent for given blow count.
For blow count of 25, which represents the liquid limit, the mixture
of 1.2 micron silica had a water content of 250 percent and of 16 microi
silica, 125 percent.
Effect of base exchange - The effect of base exchange is shown in Fig.
This figure presents data for shear strength and hydrogen and sodium
bentonite and of raw bentonite as received from the manufacturer. Hyc
gen clays are seen to be relatively strong, sodium clays are relatively
weak and the raw bentonite is intermediate between hydrogen and sodiu
bentonite. Similar relationships have been reported by Sullivan and Gi
(1940) for base exchange effects on other clays. The hydrogen clays fc
given water content are 5 to 8 timeff stronger than sodium clays . For
example at 50 percent water the shear weight is 0 .14 pounds per squat
inch for sodium compared with 0.75 pounds for hydrogen.
Effect of temperature - The strength increases slightly with falling
temperature. In general the increase is less than one percent per de-
crease of one degree centigrade. In view of the fact that water becom
more viscous as the temperature drops, it could be presumed that the
strength would increase with lowered temperature, because of the
greater viscosity of the water.
Effect of time - The strength of pure illite was measured after dif-
ferent intervals of standing. The data were corrected to a constant
water content. The strength is 0.70 per square inch after one minute
840
EFFECT OF CLAY CONTENT ON STRENGTH OF SOILS
standing, 0.79 after three minutes, and 0.93 pounds per square inch
after 100 minutes. Most of the strength is thus attained in a short
time, but addidional strength is slowly gained with time, evidently
owing to thixotropic effects .
Effect of glycerine - The strength of glycerine mixtures was measured
on vel clay, a type of bentonite or montmorillonite. The results are
shown in Fig. 12 which indicates that glycerine does not give the
straight line effect of water mixtures. The strength increases from
about 0.1 pound per square inch at 143 percent glycerine through 0.5
pounds per square inch for 132 percent glycerine to 1.3 pounds per
square inch for 90 percent glycerine. The strength thus increases
very rapidly as the glycerine content decreases below 100 percent."
Mixture of water and vol clay as shown in Fig. 4 closely approximate
the water-shear strength relation for Wyoming bentonite. As gly-
cerine is non-polar, whereas water is polar, the forces that cause
strength in glycerine mixtures evidently are different than those in
water.
CONCLUSIONS
The strength of clays varies with clay type. For given water content
illite is slightly stronger than kaolin. Ball clays, which are a mixture
of kaolin, silica and organic matter are slightly stronger than illite.
Montmorillonite is much stronger than any of the other clays. For given
shear strength the'water content increases progressively from kaolin
through illite to montmorillonite. Montmorillonite, for given strength
contains much more water than the other clays. It is interesting that the
base exchange capacity of the clays varies in much the same manner as
as the water content-strength relationships. The strength in some way
is related to the inherent properties of the clay.
For given water content the strength increases with increasing
clay-sand ratio and for given strength the water content likewise in-
creases with increasing clay-Sand ratio. Similarly with increasing
fineness of grain of admixed sand particles, the strength and water con-
tent increase in the same way.
It is beyond the scope of this paper to explain the fundamental phy-
sical chemistry of the causes of strength in clay-water mixtures. For
good discussions of this subject see Hauser, 1955, Norton, 1952 and
LangSton and Pask, 1956. In clay-water mixtures, the water occurs
essentially in two ways; namely, bound and unbound water. Bound water
is water associated with molecular and electrical forces surrounding
841
COASTAL ENGINEERING
clay particles and for given clay minerals has more or less similar di-
mensions . Unbound water is water between particles and is located out-
side the limits of bound water. For soils of given water content, when
the content of clay increases in sand-clay mixtures and when the size of
the particles diminishes, the size of the pores between particles diminishei
with the result that the ratio of bound to unbound water increases, because
the thickness of the bound water layer presumably does not change ma-
terially and the dimensions of the unbound water necessarily must diminish
causing the bound-unbound water ratio to increase. Since the strength
among other things is related to the forces that bind the water to the clay
particles, the strength for given water content should likewise increase
as the relative proportions of bound water increases .
With respect to increase in water content for clays of given strength,
if the strength remains constant the ratio between bound and unbound water
should likewise remain reasonably constant. If the surface areas of the
particles increases or if the thickness of the bound layer increases, the
content of unbound water must likewise increase if the ratio of bound to
unbound water is to remain constant. Thus with increasing clay content
in clay-sand mixtures, or with increasing fineness of grain with re-
sulting increase in content of bound water, the total content of water both
bound and unbound must increase for clays of constant strength.
With respect to liquid limit, since the liquid limit test is essentially
a measure of the water content for constant strength conditions, the li-
quid limit should follow the same relationships as do the strength relation
ships described above. Even though the liquid limit may not be an exact
measure of strength, it represents the energy required to close a furrow
with 25 blows under standard conditions, and as such is a sort of measure
of strength. The liquid limit thus can be expected to vary with (1) clay
type, (2) clay-sand ratio and (3) grain size.
The effect of base exchange upon strength illustrated in Fig. 11 is
similar to the findings of Sullivan and Graham. They found that for given
water content hydrogen clays are considerably stronger than sodium clayi
The effect of temperature upon strength is probably in part caused by in-
creased viscosity of the water with lower temperature. Since the increai
in strength with drop in temperature is very slight, temperature- cannot
be regarded as a major factor affecting strength.
The different relationship for glycerine compared with water, as
indicated by Fig. 12, perhaps is caused by different molecular effects .
Glycerine is non-polar, whereas water is polar, and according to
Langston and Pask, 1956, polar effects are a partial cause of strength
in clay water mixtures .
842
EFFECT OF CLAY CONTENT ON STRENGTH OF SOILS
LIST OF REFERENCES
Capper, P. L. and Cassie, W. F., (1953), "The mechanics of
engineering soils", E. and F. N. Spon, London, pp 92-113.
Hauser, E. A., (1955), "Silicic science", D. Van Nostrand Co.,
Princeton, N. J., 188 pp.
Langston, R. B. and Pask, J. A., (1956), "Analysis of consisten-
cies of kaolin-water systems below the plastic range", Pro-
of the Fifth National Conference on Clays and Clay Minerals,
1956, National Academy of Sciences, National Research Coun-
cil . (In press)
Norton, F. H., (1952),"Elements of ceramics", Addison-Wesley
Press, Inc., Cambridge 42, Mass., 246 pp.
Sullivan, J. D. and Graham, R. P., (1940), "Effect of exchange-
able bases on the torsion properties of clays", Jour . Amer.
Ceram. Soc. , Feb. 1940, Vol. 23, No. 2, pp 39-51.
843